Over Half Of Daily Users Log On Via Smartphone Or Tablet To Facebook

Facebook is undergoing a mobile revolution with four out of five of the 24 million Britons who log on each day using a smartphone or tablet computer to sate their social appetite.

More than a third of the UK population now visit the site every day, and of the daily users some 20 million – 83% – use a smartphone or tablet to check updates on Facebook.

Facebook released its number of daily users in the UK for the first time on Wednesday, in part to combat data showing that its growth has reached saturation point. “It’s to make clear our audience is growing both in size and engagement,” said James Quarles, Facebook’s regional director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

However, the social network declined to release up to date figures on monthly users. Facebook’s monthly active users stood at 33m in December, and a spokesman said that no new number was available.

Quarles said the UK was leading a “massive shift to mobile” among its 1.1 billion registered global users.

“People start the day with Facebook and especially in the UK, which is a very big mobile market, there is a very high percentage of people signing in on smartphones,” he said.

Facebook released its number of daily users in the UK for the first time on Wednesday, in part to combat suggestions that its growth has reached saturation point.

The social network has dismissed reports of a drop in visitors as “unrepresentative” and said that mobile usage of Facebook in the UK had grown 20% compared with last year. “It’s to make clear our audience is growing both in size and engagement,” said Quarles.

The social network is also beginning to emphasis users’ mobile engagement in a bid to drive advertising to people’s handsets. Mobile usage of Facebook in the UK has grown 20% compared with last year.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pinned the site’s future prospects on its ability to capitalize on the rapid shift to mobile – and this year the focus appears to have started to pay off.

Quarles compared Facebook’s mobile reach of 20 million daily mobile users to television juggernauts such as The X Factor, which made over £100m for ITV at its audience peak in 2010.